In recent years, traditional May Day processions have gathered 120-150,000 people across the country. But now, according to incomplete data from the organizers of the current global protest, more than a million French people have taken to the streets against the government’s social policy, six to seven times more than usual. The unions promised an “unprecedented” May Day and kept their word.
More than 380 rallies, demonstrations and other actions took place across the country that day. They started in the morning in Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux, Strasbourg and many other cities. Moreover, in some of them, especially in Lyon, clashes with the police immediately took place, when the most excited demonstrators began to throw stones and bottles at the police. They responded with tear gas. Later, similar clashes occurred in other regions of France.
In Paris, a procession of several thousand, and “yellow vests” were seen among the walkers, took place in the afternoon, starting from the gathering place on the Place de la République, then towards the Bastille and the Place de Nation, in the southeast of the French capital. Moreover, it was international in nature as it was joined by three dozen delegations from other European countries, led by the General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Esther Lynch.
76% of French people do not believe Macron’s promises and as many support “pot concerts”
If the authorities hoped that after Macron signed the ill-fated law, discord and hesitation would arise in the union ranks, discouragement would prevail, then they are sorely mistaken. According to Tom Vacheron, one of the leaders of the left-wing trade union center of the CGT, “for three months, we were told that we were going to give up, but that did not happen”. But political scientist Baptiste Giraud generally believes that by raising up fellow citizens to fight against the unfortunate reform, “the unions have imposed themselves in a role of counterweight to power”.
And those sentiments are in line with many of the posters carried by protesters. Here is one: “The page has not been turned, we will continue to fill it”, which is also confirmed by the opinion poll of the opinion agency Backbone consulting, published this Monday by the newspaper Figaro. Thus, two-thirds of French people fully support the union slogans and are in favor of the continuation of the protest movement. Moreover, this poll shows that 76% of citizens do not believe Macron’s promises, and about the same number speak positively of the “pot concerts” that Macron and his ministers are welcomed everywhere during their travels across the country. .
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